Animated Patterns

[defaulty7sjeznppby8]

Hi All,

Im a bit of a novvice in certain areas of after effects, I work for a small agency so enevitabley end up creating everything for a brand. 

I have recently seen this animation https://ashfall.studio/work/fifth-row, and other changing pattern animations. this one in particular caught my eye and and wondered if anyone had a good resource on learning to create such a dynamic looping pattern.

It could be expressions controlling line widths and lengths in a very clever way but I would love some kind of tutorial on this. 

Im not sure where to start. Any ideas?

Thanks

[Dan Ebberts]

This is a little out of my lane, but here's what I'd do. First create a comp that has all your  imagery (white against transparent background) and call it "bg". Then create another comp (same size as "bg") and drag "bg" into it as the bottom layer. Then create a shape layer using the menu command Layer > New > Shape Layer. Twirl the shape layer open and do this: Add > Rectangle, and then Add > Fill. For the shape's Transform > Position property, add this expression:

nCols = 10;
nRows = 20;
w = Math.round(thisComp.width/nCols);
h = Math.round(thisComp.height/nRows);
col = (index-1)%nCols;
row = Math.floor((index-1)/nCols);
[w,h]/2 + [col*w,row*h]

For the shape's Contents > Rectangle Path > Size property, add this expression:

nCols = 10;
nRows = 20;
w = Math.round(thisComp.width/nCols);
h = Math.round(thisComp.height/nRows);
minH = .05;
maxH = .95;
s = thisComp.layer("bg").sampleImage(position,[w,h]/2,false,time)[3];
hPct = linear(s,0,1,minH,maxH);
[w,h*hPct]

Duplicate the shape layer enough times to fill the comp. You should end up with a 10x20 grid of self-positioning, self-sizing rectangles that react to imagery in the "bg" comp layer. You may want to add a comp-sized solid layer between the "bg" layer and the bottom-most shape layer to provide the background fill color. That should get you started.

[defaulty7sjeznppby8]

Wow, Thanks Dan, really didnt expect such a fool answer, Ill give that a try and let you know how it goes. Thanks again

[Roland Kahlenberg]

Looks like Dan's got you covered on this assignment. If you want to dig into this sort of stuff, here's a URL with lots of examples and AEPs - https://www.motionboutique.com/blog/summer-of-code